The Los Angeles Lakers announced their annual Pride Night will take place on Oct. 17 when they host the Sacramento Kings in their preseason finale. The Lakers will celebrate this special event by hosting members of the local LGBTQIA+ community.
The Lakers have been hosting Pride Night every season since 2018 in order to celebrate and honor the people in both the local and NBA community who work to advance awareness of LGBTQIA+ history.
Traditionally, the Lakers have honored someone within the community with the ‘Laces of Unity’ award and that is likely to continue, though no announcement has been made as of yet on who will be this year’s recipient. Additionally, the Lakers have not yet announced what giveaways will be taking place inside Crypto.com Arena for the fans in attendance. Past giveaways include a jersey and a shirt.
This contest will be the last of six preseason games for the Lakers as they prepare for the start of the 2025-26 regular season, which begins just four days later when they host the Golden State Warriors on Oct. 21. As such, this will be the Lakers’ final chance to get in rhythm and lock in before the games count as well as one last chance for players fighting for a roster spot to impress the coaches.
The 2025-26 season will be a crucial one for the Lakers as it is the first full season with superstar Luka Doncic in the purple and gold and could potentially be the final year in the storied career of all-time great LeBron James.
Lakers to unveil Pat Riley statue on Feb. 22 vs. Celtics
Another huge night for the Lakers will come on Feb. 22 when they will unveil the latest statue inside Star Plaza at the Crypto.com Arena, this one for legendary head coach Pat Riley.
Riley is one of the greatest head coaches in NBA history, leading the ‘Showtime’ Lakers to four NBA Championships in the 1980s as one of the greatest dynasties ever.
Riley still ranks fifth all-time in coaching wins and third in win percentage for all coaches with at least 600 wins. As far as Lakers’ franchise history goes, Riley has the highest win percentage and trails only Phil Jackson in both regular season and playoff victories.
Unveiling the statue prior to taking on the Celtics also makes a ton of sense as Riley led the Lakers to their first NBA Finals victory over their rivals, and still harbors some hatred for Boston to this day, even as the longtime President of the Miami Heat.
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